In recent years, as cooking and restaurant appliances in large hotels or institutional kitchens have become more complex, there has been an increased need for the utilization of computers for diagnosing malfunctions. Today, cooking appliances are maintained and serviced, however, by a food service industry that--with exceptions--is too poorly equipped and untrained to do so. The domestic food service industry is composed of some three hundred independent service agencies, ranging in size from one up to hundreds of employees. Most, however, consist of just a few employees which are unfortunately burden with the responsibilities of invoices, repairs, inventories, warranties, credits, returns, and the like. For example, these service agencies not only have to generate invoices, but also have to collect payment, which for obvious reasons is time consuming. With such other duties, service agencies have the least amount of time to keep up with the technology of today's complex kitchen or cooking appliances. With the existing food service industry so fragmented and ill-suited to handle the latter administrative tasks as well as the repairs, it is estimated that their efficiency may be as low as 20%. In other words, although the food service industry has become the focal point of the work allocation, the service sector is the least capable segment of the industry to do so.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide a cost-effective system which enhances the work force utilization of today's food service industry, allowing the proper work allocation of administrative and repair skills among those best suited to perform the tasks.